Corner Brook - The City of Corner Brook has extended the closing date on its tender call for the construction of a new city hall.

However, the extension is not the result of a lack of interest.

Rather, the city issued a press release Monday, stating the response to the tender call has been so promising that the Operational Services Division has decided to provide potential contractors and subcontractors more time to assess the drawings and be as competitive as possible.

Notice of the original closing date of Feb. 10 being pushed back to Feb. 26 has been given to all tender document holders. As of Monday, a total of 42 tender packages have been sent out to various contractors, subcontractors and construction organizations.

"While we are anxious to see the tender close and analyze the results, we want to make the right decision on the closing date so that all contractors can be competitive," said Mayor Charles Pender in a prepared statement.

"This project is much too important to the city to rush and the extension in the closing date reflects careful consideration.

"Given the complicated sustainability features of the building and elements that haven't been carried out elsewhere in the province, a significant amount of work is required to bid on a project like this - so we'll make sure that we do things right."

Although the tender closing date has changed, Pender said this is not expected to affect the construction start-up date of early spring. This is the second time the city has called for tenders to build the facility.

City council cancelled the original tender for the foundation component of the project in October, citing the bids received exceeded council's pre-tender estimates of what the cost would be. The city had an estimated cost of $844,788, but the three bids submitted ranged from just under $1.1 million to nearly $1.8 million.